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Diagnosing Psychopathology: DSM-IV. More harm than good?. DSM-IV-TR. The American Psychological Association developed the most widely used classification system for psychological disorders. The book is called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders. *IV=4 th edition 1994
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Diagnosing Psychopathology: DSM-IV More harm than good?
DSM-IV-TR • The American Psychological Association developed the most widely used classification system for psychological disorders. • The book is called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders. *IV=4thedition 1994 **TR=Text revised 2000 DSM-5 MAY 2013!!!
DSM-IV • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders • Resource to diagnose patients (only) • Symptoms of everything considered to be psychological disorder • 16 clinical syndromes • Weakness: assumption / labeling of mental illness based on symptoms…
Dangers of Labeling • Power of labels • Preconception can stigmatize • Insanity label • Stereotypes of the mentally ill • Self-fulfilling prophecy • Rosenhan’s study…
Problems With Labeling? • A young psychologist, David Rosenhan, set up an experiment to see if mental hospitals could really detect someone with mental illness. • He felt that terms like “sanity,”“insanity,”“schizophrenia,”“mental illness” and “abnormal” might have fuzzier boundaries and more fluid definitions than those in the medical world were giving them credit for.
Rosenhan Experiment • Rosenhan also suspected that some strange behaviors seen in mental patients might originate in the abnormal atmosphere mental hospitals, rather than in the patients themselves. • To test these theories, Rosenhan and seven collogues conducted the Rosenhan Experiment in the early 1970s. David Rosenhan
Rosenhan Study • Dangers of labeling patients with disorders • 8 participants who faked symptoms • All acted completed normal except for testifying to hearing voices (3 words) • All diagnosed with Schizophrenia and discharged as “Schizophrenia in remission” • Average stay in institutions: 18 days
Explaining Rosenhan • Rosenhan said that the mistaken diagnosis were most likely a result of the lack of time the doctors spent with the patients. • Surprisingly, the other hospital patients readily detected the experiment. The pseudo-patients reported that the other patients regularly voiced their suspicions.
So… again, DO NOT DIAGNOSE!! • At various moments, all of us feel, think or act the way disturbed people do. We, too, get anxious, depressed, withdrawn, suspicious, or deluded, just less intensely and more briefly. • We are NOT psychologists or psychiatrists • DO NOT attempt to diagnose yourself or people you know!